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DURHAM, N.H. -- University of New Hampshire President Ann Weaver Hart
today announced that U.S Senator Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) has included $12 million in
funding for Northeast air quality studies in the Senate Appropriations Bill for the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), now making its way
through the U.S. Senate.

Through his position as the ranking member of the Senate Appropriations
Subcommittee, Gregg is proposing an additional $1.75 million for the New England
Air Quality Study, an additional $6 million for the development of air quality and
improved temperature forecasting with the Northeast serving as a test site, and an
additional $5 million for an air monitoring institute housed at UNH.

This summer marks the 2002 campaign of the New England Air Quality Study, an
effort of more than 20 partner institutions to identify why the northeastern United
States has some of the worst air quality in the country.

This month-long campaign includes NOAA's largest research vessel, the Ronald H.
Brown, a G-1 Gulfstream research aircraft operated by the U.S. Department of
Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and stationary monitoring sites
throughout New England. The study was partially initiated by the NOAA-funded
Atmospheric Investigation, Regional Modeling, Analysis and Prediction (AIRMAP)
project headquartered at the UNH.

"The New England Air Quality Study is enormously important to all of us, and it is
happening only because of Senator Gregg's strong leadership," UNH President Hart
said this morning at the Port Authority pier in Portsmouth, N.H., where the RV
Ronald H. Brown was docked. "The studies this summer, combined with the
regionwide field campaign planned for 2004, will enable scientists to unravel many of
the complex factors affecting our region's air quality. This will be important not only
for creating systematic air quality forecasts but learning how to best improve New
England air quality."

Gregg, who participated in this morning's event, stated, "I am pleased to help continue
the funding for the New England Air Quality Study and to assist in the development
of air quality and improved temperature forecasting through AIRMAP and other
programs. This research has not only established the University of New Hampshire
as a national center for atmospheric investigations, but has and will continue to
benefit the nation by leading to more accurate air quality forecasts."

The New England Air Quality Study is focused on determining the sources of
pollutants affecting the New England atmosphere and improving air quality
forecasting. Information gathered from the ship will help understand the outflow of
polluted air from the northeastern United States and further the intricate relationship
between atmospheric chemistry and dynamics, such as the sea-breeze effect on the
occurrence of ozone episodes.

The New England Air Quality Study will enhance current research of New England's
air quality through the NOAA-UNH AIRMAP Cooperative Institute. For three years,
AIRMAP has taken pollutant measurements from monitoring stations in three rural
New Hampshire sites. The ship and plane are being used as additional monitoring
sites, offering the advantage of mobile platforms.

"AIRMAP is providing an important framework of continuous chemical
measurements throughout the year for the New England Air Quality Study," said
Robert Talbot, director of the AIRMAP Cooperative Institute and UNH Professor of
Earth Sciences at the Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space. "The
detailed snapshot of New England air quality obtained during this summer's field
campaign provides information that can be extended to other time periods using the
AIRMAP monitoring network. It also gives us the opportunity to evaluate air quality
forecast models and help guide their improvement toward becoming a useful product,
much like weather forecasts, for businesses and the general public.

A much larger air quality field campaign is anticipated for the summer of 2004.
James Mahoney, NOAA assistant secretary of commerce, said this summer's work
and the next big campaign directly support the National Weather Service initiative to
produce detailed air quality forecasts on a routine 24-7 basis, which is being
championed by Gregg.

For more information, visit the New England Air Quality Study Web site at
http://www.al.noaa.gov/neaqs/ or the AIRMAP Web site at http://airmap.unh.edu/.

By Amy Seif
Communication and Information Coordinator
Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space
603-862-5369